Time Slip
by Dark Puck
Summary: Crossover with Sailor Moon R. When an experimenting time traveller arrives in Chicago, he brings with him allies and enemies alike. Can Harry get everything straightened out and Saffir back where he belongs without alerting the council? Now complete!
1. Blue Moon

Time Slip

CHAPTER ONE  
Blue Moon

* * *

The first thing Heir-Prince Saffir did on reaching his destination was take his goddess' name in vain and shield his eyes from the sunlight pouring down on him. The heat of it against his pale skin was all but unbearable, and he stumbled back into the protection of the shadows. _How do Gaians _live _like this?_ he wondered, risking a glance out at the too-bright city.

Obviously he had miscalculated something in his jump to the past. He certainly hadn't anticipated the reaction his darkness-accustomed body would have this close to the sun. Gathering his power and focusing, Saffir disappeared into the time stream once more, coming out a few hours ahead of where he had been previously. The night would be kinder to him.

"Much better," the young man murmured, stepping out into public view after concealing the black crescent moon on his forehead. The white electric lighting of this city was similar enough to the witchlights used by his people that his blue eyes only required a few moments to adjust.

He looked at his right hand and frowned – even those few moments in that scorching yellow sun had burned him, tinting his pale skin a pinkish-red. He took a moment to regret that he had yet to study healing magic before setting out to explore the city.

--‡--‡--‡--

"Erebus _take_ it!" Saffir snarled not ten minutes later, having tracked down a newspaper. All those weeks of preparation, his careful calculations… and he had _missed_. By _fifteen years_.

_Or you were right the first time and put yourself ahead fifteen years in an attempt to avoid the sun_, murmured a treacherous part of his mind. He ignored it; he'd long since mastered the art of travelling a few hours forward or back. In any case, he was temporarily stuck in 2007 – it would take him some hours to recover enough power for another thousand-year jump. _I might as well make the best of it_, he mused, looking up at the moon suspiciously. If he wasn't careful, he'd come back home darker than he already was, which would only lead to envy from his cousin Esmeraude and far, _far_ too many questions from his brother's advisor.

The Wiseman had no need to learn of his experiments into bypassing the domain of Sailor Pluto – not until the technique was perfected and Prince Demando told of his younger brother's achievement. And Saffir had enough to worry about with the Darkstar clan trying to steal his research on the subject so they could royally screw over the timestream in order to see their favourite on the throne of Nemesis. Thank Nyx that Lapis Lazuli had been able to warn him before Jaspis turned up – Saffir had no love for the back-stabbing politics of his homeworld, but he knew the rules and played the game quite well.

And the young Heir-Prince wasn't so lost in thought that he didn't notice he was being followed. A small, cold smile curved his lips as he began seeking a likely spot to… _discourage_ further pursuit. Spotting a likely alley, he turned down it, almost sensing his tail's predatory glee. _Not yet_, he thought, the smile fading. _Soon… almost…_ He reached the end of the alley, which had unsurprisingly turned into a dead end. _Now!_ Aware that he had to conserve his energy if he wanted to get back to his proper time within the next twelve hours, Saffir elected not to teleport behind his enemy, instead raising his left hand as he turned around and letting fly a burst of energy as his pursuer leapt at him.

The _thing_ hadn't been expecting such an odd defence, and was unable to avoid the dark blue-tinted blast. It yowled in pain as it was thrown back the way it had come. The cold smile returned to Saffir's face as he shifted into a more battle-ready stance. "_Nice try_," he murmured in his native language, "_but I'm rather adverse to being considered _prey. _Go find something else to eat_."

The whatever-it-was didn't take his advice, instead lunging for him far faster than it had before. Instinctively, Saffir focused on the area behind it, then moved himself there in a spectacularly boring teleport. Confused, the beast yowled, trying to catch his scent. Drawing a knife from a hidden sheath, Saffir smoothly stepped forward and slit its throat from behind, then leapt back before the decidedly non-human predator could gut him in its death throes.

He watched it die dispassionately, then stepped forward to study the body and determine exactly what it was. It was more powerful than the droids he dealt with on a near-daily basis, but it was as nothing compared to his cousin Rubeus, or the rest of his family, for that matter. "What in the names of the Three Goddesses were you?" he said softly. He'd not seen anything like this in any of the texts of Old Earth he'd read…

Saffir's sharp ears caught the sound of running feet and he whirled, energy gathering around his left hand as he made ready to defend himself once more.

-+-

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, was currently involved in a high-speed chase (on foot, but no less high speed) with a ghoul that had, for some reason, mauled a number of pedestrians. He thought he had in cornered in the alley it darted into, but skidded to a halt and very nearly tripped over his own feet when he saw a very pale man with a knife standing over the corpse of the aforementioned ghoul.

A bit clumsily, he thrust out his staff defensively; he would have preferred to use his blasting rod but he had not been prepared to go chase down a ghoul. He was, in fact, prepared to go have coffee with Billy and Georgia. _I should just stop making plans..._ he thought.

The man whirled to face him, a blue glow shimmering around his left hand as he demanded in a rather regal tone, "You're allies with this… thing, then?"

Harry blinked several timers, trying to register what he just said. "What the...that's a fucking ghoul! What are you _talking_ about?" He then realized what had just happened and very nearly dropped his staff. "You...just killed a ghoul with nothing but a knife?"

The blue glow vanished as the man slowly relaxed. "A ghoul… I thought those were just stories, told by mothers to frighten children into misbehaving." He looked over his shoulder at the body. "I suppose I was wrong," he added dryly before looking back at Harry. "The knife caused the death wound, yes."

Harry looked the man up and down. He was...pale. Paler than a vampire, paler than anyone Harry had ever seen. Like the lovechild of a Goth and a snowman. "And what, pray tell, are _you?_"

He looked rather amused by that. "I'm human."

Harry chuckled darkly. "And I'm Mary, Queen of Scots. Very few humans can take on a ghoul mano-a-mano. What business do you have down this dark alley, hm?"

"Ambush," came the light reply. "I noticed that it was following me with predatory intent, so I lured it to where I could properly deal with it and not worry about bystanders."

Harry looked the man up and down once again, and filed him under Highly Suspicious. He lowered his staff, but did not drop his guard. "Perhaps I should take you to be questioned somewhere."

One dark eyebrow arched upward. "And if I don't wish to be questioned?" The tone was bland, and could have concealed a world of meaning – or could have been no more than a simple question.

"The way I see it, you have two options. You can be upfront with me now or I can call the police, and they so dislike being disturbed around this time." A quick probe with his wizardly senses confirmed Harry's suspicions. "And I _know_ you're more than human."

Dark eyes narrowed – the man had been outmanoeuvred, and not only did he know it, he really disliked it. "Surely you don't mean for us to discuss this in front of a dead body. Someone might get the wrong idea." He didn't make comment on Harry's second point regarding his humanity or lack thereof – yet.

Harry looked at the dead ghoul, then at the strange man. "Fair enough. I know a place we can go." Harry lowered his staff to his side. "As a token of goodwill, you're going to give me that knife."

The man looked at the knife, then at the wizard, then knelt and wiped the blade on the ghoul's clothing before handing it over hilt-first. "If you lose it, I shall be _very_ upset," he growled, a strangely Germanic accent tinting his words. He'd made entirely too little fuss about handing it over.

Harry wrapped it in a handkerchief and slipped it into a pocket. "Follow me."

"As you will, strange tall man," replied the other, an oddly mocking tone to his words now.

"Follow me, strange pale man." Harry led the man around the corner, stopping at a payphone to make a quick call. "Murph? It's Harry. There's a dead ghoul in an alley off of Fifty-Fourth. I'll give you the details later." He hung up without another word and led strange pale man to the Beetle.

The stranger regarded the vehicle with an oddly curious look and tilt of the head, bringing his dark hair into the light – his dark _blue_ hair. Harry raised an eyebrow upon getting a look at the man's hair. "Nice hair. Get in the car."

This earned him another odd look, but he obeyed, folding his long body – though not quite so long as Harry's – into the passenger seat. He fumbled when handling the safety belt, as if it was something he had only read about, never encountered himself, but got himself locked in.

Harry gave him an odd look, but said nothing. He revved up the car and set off toward Mac's. "Got a name?"

"Saffir," he replied after a short pause. "How about you?"

"Harry. Rather an odd name you have."

"I was about to say the same thing," Saffir told him dryly.

Harry rolled his eyes but, once again, did not comment. He pulled into Mac's and got out, stretching a bit. Saffir followed suit, muttering something under his breath in a language Harry didn't recognise. "_So primitive…_"

"After you, Saffy," he said, opening the door to the pub.

The nickname earned him the iciest stare he'd yet to receive. "_That_ is _not_ my name," Saffir told him coldly before walking in.

Harry only chuckled in response. "Welcome to McAnnaly's, where everybody knows your name and they're generally glad you came."

"It's a bar," Saffir observed, glancing around the room. "An interesting set-up, though. Feng shui to lessen the chances of magical accidents, I'm guessing. I wonder if I could talk my brother into a similar arrangement…"

Harry let out a long, low whistle. "Not many people spot that, and that's including the local wizards. Good eye." _And thus proving you're more than you say you are... _"Have a seat. Don't suppose you have any money on you?"

"Not any local currency, no," Saffir admitted. "I suppose I should have seen a jeweller when I had the chance. Hindsight, etc."

Harry chuckled again. "Figures. This round's on me." He had a seat at the bar, greeter the barman monosyllabically, and ordered two pints of stout. When he returned to Saffir with the drinks, there was a silver ring with a small sapphire on it waiting for him. Dark blue eyes dared him to comment.

Harry picked up the ring and looked it over. "I'm not going to insult you and ask if this is real. What's it for?"

"My share of the bill," came the cool reply. "And possible hospital bills, if the rest of my night continues its downward spiral."

Harry put the ring on the table. "It's a beer, and I'm not poor. You can pay for the beer by being frank."

Saffir shrugged and left the ring where it was. "I'll be as frank as circumstances allow," he replied simply.

Harry took a sip of his beer. "You're _definitely_ more than human. So what is it? Wizard? Vampire? Perhaps a bit of faerie in your genetic cocktail?"

The blue-haired man shook his head. "No, I'm as human as you are." He paused, as if considering what else to give away, then added, "I was, however, raised in a place rather inundated in dark energy. The odds are that's the source of whatever else it is you're sensing from me."

Harry scoffed a bit. "First off? 'Inundated?' Do you carry a little pocket thesaurus around? Secondly, what'd you mean by 'dark energy'?" Harry could think of several things that could be described as such, but wanted to hear what he had to say.

For the first time, a small, genuine smile curved Saffir's lips. "Well done. Hardly anybody sees through my 'big words' ploy. As to the latter statement, there's truly no other way to describe it." Another pause. "It could be considered the magical equivalent of radiation, but it's nowhere near as mutating or fatal."

Harry smiled a bit, taking another sip of beer. "I think I get you. And what kind of a place might that be?"

This one earned him another long pause, before the shorter man finally said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Harry actually laughed at this. "I'm a _wizard._ I've seen magic that can literally tear people asunder, watched the faerie courts go to war, fought more vampires than I'd like to count and was very much looking forward to having coffee with a pair of werewolves. _Try me._"

Saffir shrugged. "I'm from another planet."

Harry, mid-sip, snorted a bit of beer. After coughing it out of his sinuses, Harry looked at Saffir squarely. "Admittedly, that's a new one in my book."

The pale young man shrugged. "It's the truth," he replied. "My people were banished from this planet many centuries ago, hence my being human despite coming from Nemesis."

"Nemesis, huh? Pleasant-sounding place. Where exactly is it?"

"Beyond this system's ninth planet – Pluto, I believe you call it."

"Our scientists say that Pluto isn't a planet anymore," said Harry, rolling his eyes a bit. "Our tax dollars at work."

Both of Saffir's eyebrows rose ceilingward. "_I hope to Nyx and Erebus nobody ever tells _her _that,"_ he murmured in the language that had given him his accent.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Irrelevant," he replied, this time in English.

Shrugging, Harry drank some more beer. "Have a bit of beer, it'll do you good. So what's a nice, er... Nemesite? Nemesoid? Whatever like you doing in a place like this?

"Nemesian," Saffir corrected, taking a sip of beer and making an appreciative sound. "This is good. And I'm experimenting."

"Experimenting."

Saffir smiled grimly. "I wanted to see if teleporting from Nemesis to this place was possible."

Harry chuckled. "Every knowledge-seeker's eternal motto: 'Hey, I wonder what'll happen if I do _this!' _I'm gonna be frank with you, as long as Frank doesn't mind. You're a bit strange and could probably stand to get out in the sun a bit more, but as far as I can tell you're on the level." He reached into the folds of his coat and placed the wrapped knife on the table. "Here's your knife back. Keep the hankie."

Saffir accepted the weapon, and it vanished into a sheath hidden up the sleeve of his blue shirt. "Thank you. As for the sun, well… as I said, I come from beyond Pluto. This system's sun is little more than an overly bright star."

Harry shivered a bit. "Point taken. So I'm going to finish my beer, and if you beg a bit I might just throw in a late dinner, and I'm going to leave you to...whatever it is you're doing, as you don't seem to be bothering anyone, save for the occasional ghoul. But I've got eyes and ears all-over, and if it turns out I'm wrong about you, I will find you and we shall have Words."

"Believe me when I say I have no interest in bothering anyone here," Saffir replied. "However, I would be amiss not to warn you that I might have been followed here by a man less interested in subtlety than I." He scowled. "As much as I hate admitting it, he's clever enough that he might have figured out my method of travel and come after me."

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out one of his business cards. "You let me know if that happens. I'd be willing to bet good money that I've dealt with worse."

With that, Harry stood up, finished off the rest of his beer in one chug, and ordered two steak sandwiches (one to go).

"You've never dealt with anything like the Darkstar clan before," Saffir said softly, "and certainly nothing like Jaspis. He should be easy enough to spot. As pale as I am, only he bears a black star on his brow, as opposed to a crescent." Here the young man pushed his bangs aside, revealing a black moon shape on his forehead.

Harry looked at the mark oddly. "Interesting place for tattoo. Nice job on the concealing spell, though. I'll keep my eyes open."

"Keep your ears open, too. Each clan of Nemesis has a power unique to them. The Darkstars are able to drain energy from other beings. So if you hear of any mysterious collapses, well, a Darkstar is behind it."

Harry nodded. "I'll make a note. Good luck with whatever it is you're trying to accomplish. Enjoy your food. And watch yourself." And with that, Harry turned and left, but not before making a cheesy "eyes-on-you" gesture.

Saffir shook his head and smiled. With any luck, he wouldn't have any Darkstars to deal with. Surely Jaspis wouldn't follow him a thousand years to the past?

* * *

_And thus beginneth the crossover! Can Saffir hide the fact that he's a time-traveller from Harry and the Council? Will anyone else from his planet turn up? Stay tuned!_

_ For any Sailor Moon fans in the audience - which is probably most of you - please bear in mind that this is a Saffir prior to all the fun in Sailor Moon R. He's about nineteen years old here and learning to do all the fun stuff he does during the Lost Episodes._

_ The Dresden Files and all characters therein belong to Jim Butcher; Sailor Moon, Saffir, and all other characters are the property of Naoko Takeuchi and Toei Animation. Jaspis and all musings on Nemesian culture/religion are mine; I don't know why you'd want them, anyway._

_ Thanks to GG Crono for being my Harry; I cannot get into that man's head.  
_


	2. Time Warp

Time Slip  
CHAPTER TWO  
Time Warp

* * *

Saffir remained in McAnnaly's for a while longer after Harry left, enjoying the sandwich. Truly, food tasted better when raised on a planet so close to the sun – though he was certain Gaia's – Earth, he needed to call it Earth now that he was here -- lack of a dark taint assisted the sun in making tasty food. 

He palmed the ring subtly as he at last rose from his seat, tucking it into his pants pocket as he strode out into the night of Chicago for the second time in as many hours. Despite his words to the Gai—Earthling wizard, he highly doubted that Jaspis would have followed him back so far in time.

Why do that, when he could just wait back at Saffir's laboratory on Nemesis and attack when… he was… weakened…

…

Saffir didn't often indulge in bursts of swearing, but this seemed a more than appropriate time to do so. He therefore coloured the air blue with imprecations in his native language, English, and Japanese before he ran out of words and phrases. This was not good. He'd managed to outsmart himself and give Jaspis a perfect target in the process. Deep in thought, he let his legs lead him around the city while he attempted to figure out a solution to this that _wouldn't_ end with him being blasted into oblivion.

_And one that won't cause a paradox_, he mentally added. Which was the problem with just teleporting to Japan to make use of its overabundance of magic and then going back home. Just finding out if the Sailor _Senshi_ were still around even fifteen years beyond his intended destination could potentially cause a inconsistency in the time stream that would either trap him in a continuous loop, or destroy the universe.

Saffir rubbed his temples, feeling a migraine coming on. _I should have listened to Rubeus_, he thought with a sigh. _Time travel is little more than one giant headache_.

Seconds later, he realised that he needn't have bothered with thoughts of retaining his strength. He had just come face-to-face with the heir of the Darkstar clan.

He scowled as he noticed that his rival had again gained height on him, and he openly carried his sword. _Subtle_ was not Jaspis' defining trait, Saffir reflected, his eyes roving from the purple-streaked green hair to the black star prominently displayed on his forehead to the black cape trailing dramatically behind him.

"Fancy meeting _you _here, _erbeprinz_," Jaspis drawled lazily.

"So you _did_ follow me," the Heir-Prince growled, stepping back so that he was out of sword's reach. Thank the Three Goddesses that this street was fairly abandoned. If it came down to a fight of magic between them – which it would, if Saffir had his way – nobody would be killed.

Well. Except for Jaspis.

The Darkstar heir smirked as he unsheathed his sword. "Don't give me that face, _erbeprinz_. You know full well I can't kill you without that damned brother of yours knowing."

Saffir _hadn't_ known that. And the last time he'd faced down the older man, neither had Jaspis. Which meant someone had told him. But who? He leapt back as Jaspis swung at him. "However, that doesn't mean I won't _hurt_ you," the Darkstar added with a smirk.

"Bastard," the blue-haired man growled at him.

Jaspis laughed at that. "Language, Blue Prince, language. One might think you were a common worker, and not the heir to the throne." That said, he spoke a word in the Old Tongue, then slashed his sword at Saffir once more. To the Blue Prince's surprise, a long crescent of green energy splashed with purple shot out at him. He was barely able to get a shield up to protect him from the worst of the blow, and what little that _did_ get him threw him to the ground.

_Impossible! How did he get so powerful?_ Saffir bounded to his feet, but Jaspis was behind him, unleashing another energy burst from his sword. The Blue Prince wasn't able to get a shield up, or even completely turn around, taking the brunt of the attack on his left arm. He hit the pavement hard, taking most of _that_ impact on his shoulder. Before he could rise this time, Jaspis kicked him in the gut, knocking the air out of him and rendering the young man helpless.

As the Heir-Prince struggled to pull air into his lungs, Jaspis grabbed him by the front of the collar and hauled him partly off the ground. "Since I can't kill you," he all but purred, "I'll just make sure you can't get back."

Saffir attempted to snarl an insult, but his comment turned into a scream as Jaspis laid a tanned – tanned!? – hand on his cheek and began to drain Saffir of his energy. It was difficult to think beyond the pain, but the Blue Prince managed to trigger his Clan's unique power – the Third Eye. While he couldn't use it as adeptly as his brother, Saffir could still use it offensively. He did so now, launching a direct assault on Jaspis' mind. The older man yelled, releasing the Blue Prince and clapping his hands over his Clan mark before vanishing. Exhausted, Saffir fell limp.

-

Karrin Murphy heard the screaming and rounded the corner at a dead run, her gun out. "Stop! Police!" she shouted, at the man standing over a prone figure, just before he vanished. She couldn't decide whether it was a good or a bad thing that she didn't freak out when he did vanish. Whatever. She holstered her gun and bent down to take the other man's pulse.

It was weak, faltering, but there. Though it might not remain much longer if he kept bleeding like that from his arms and chest. The blood was startlingly bright red against the near-alabaster of his pale skin.

Murph swore quietly to herself and phoned an ambulance, then crouched back down and snapped her fingers several times in front of the man's face. "Hey. Look alive in there. You pass out, you might not wake up."

Strangely intent blue eyes focused on her, and he moaned something in what sounded like German.

Murphy blinked. "Hello? Do you speak English? Stick with me. Help is coming."

"Murphy… he called you earlier." The man's eyes swam out of focus for a moment, then regained their sharpness as he drew in a deep breath. "Need you… to call Harry Dresden. Tell him that… there's a dark star in town." With that cryptic comment, he ceased all further conversation and passed out.

Murphy _hated _cryptic comments. With a passion. It was only with great effort that she restrained herself from shaking the man awake and demanding that he explain himself, and only by reminding herself that he was, in fact, injured. She stayed with him until the ambulance arrived, then went to call Harry and get _him _to explain. Somehow.

--‡--‡--‡--

Far above, a slim pale girl with azure blue hair watched, her eyes wide. "_Erbeprinz_…" she whispered. Without hesitation, her mind reached out, searching for the thoughts of the strange tall Gaian that Saffir had spoken to before. As soon as she'd locked on, she began heading in his direction, running until she gathered enough energy for a teleport of her own.

Lapis Lazuli didn't have much magic of her own – she'd managed to get to Gaia's past by piggy-backing her older brother's spell – so teleporting wasn't an easy task for her. However, she didn't expect to be lashed with sudden, mind-numbing agony and deposited outside her destination. Sobbing in pain, she curled up on the stairs, trying to regain her bearings. What had just happened?

Harry jumped up from his couch, rubbing his eyes. It felt like _something_ had just bashed up against his wards, but nothing seemed to be around. Shrugging, he laid his head back down. The forces of darkness could wait five damn minute.

After two minutes, Harry sighed and decided that now was not a time for lounging. Getting up and grabbing his staff, Harry walked over to the door and opened the peephole.

Through it he could see a young girl curled up in front of his door, breathing heavily and generally looking as though she'd fallen afoul of his wards. The thing that attracted his attention was her alabaster skin – it was as pale as that Saffir kid's had been.

Harry sighed. _Great, another one._ _This is going to be one of _those _weeks._ Wrenching the door open, he approached and stood over the girl, clutching his staff. She jerked and stared up at him with wide grey eyes, the now-visible black star on her forehead framed by blue bangs.

Harry, seeing the star, let a bit of energy flow into his staff, causing the runes to glow faintly. "I received a very peculiar warning the other day," he said flatly. "And now here you are. Have the Star-Headed Sneeches begun arriving already?"

She cringed away from him, said something in the language Saffir had spoke in occasionally, then shook her head and tried again, "You… you're the man Heir-Prince Saffir was with, _ja_?"

"_Ja_." A word caught Harry's ears by surprise. "_Prince?!_"

"O-only technically," she stammered. "H-he's the heir…"

Harry buried his face in his free hand. "There _is_ a such thing as karma and it hates me." Regaining himself, he cleared his throat and asked "And who might you be?"

Her fingers reached up to touch the star as she replied, "Lapis Lazuli – I-I know I'm a Darkstar, but I'm not like m-my brother, I _swear!_"

Harry rolled his eyes. "So you have a brother now, do you?"

She nodded. "Jaspis. He attacked the Heir-Prince…"

He rolled his eyes again. If he kept this up, he felt, they might just fall out. "Of course he did. You caught me in a bad time, so give me a decent reason to believe you or I'm calling 911."

The girl bit her lip and looked down. "I… I saw it happen," she said softly.

Harry tapped his foot. He had heard the details of this from Murph. "Why should I believe you have no ill will toward me _or_ Prince Charming? You were trying to get inside my wards just now, weren't you. Not a very nice thing to do."

"I was trying to warn you that J-Jaspis might come after you for being with Heir-Prince Saffir… I d-didn't know you could ward against teleporting…"

_I didn't know I could either. Good to know,_ thought Harry. "You armed?"

She shook her head tearfully. "I'm out of energy, too…"

Harry looked at her oddly. "You're out of energy," he repeated, deadpan.

"_Ja_. I… I guess the word translates more accurately to magic."

Harry sighed. "So how did you get here, anyway? Tall, blue and pale kind of implied it wasn't easy. I don't imagine it was, coming from beyond Pluto."

She blushed. "I, um… I couldn't do it on my own, so I kind of… pig-a-backed when my brother followed Heir-Prince Saffir…"

Leaning down a bit, Harry said, "So what made you decide to check in on lil' old me? Did our mutual friend lose his trans-galactic keys or something?"

She cast her eyes down as she admitted, "Jaspis drained the Heir-Prince almost completely, He's trapped here now. I… I was hoping you might be able to help us…"

Harry sighed. Sure, she might potentially be ready to stab him in the back, but she was female and asking for his help. Drat.

"I can pay," she added, almost hopefully.

Harry transferred his staff to his left armpit and offered her a hand. "I don't know how much I can accomplish. His magic is...unlike anything I've ever heard of."

She accepted his hand with a shy smile. "That's all right. Saffir and my brother are prodigies – a lot of what they do is like nothing anyone back home has heard of."

Harry smiled a bit. "I think you misunderstood me juuust a tad."

"…what do you mean?"

"I mean, what you and Saffy do, it's like nothing _me_ or _anyone_ I know has _ever_ heard of. It's magic, yes, but..."

Comprehension dawned in her eyes. "Oh, I see… you can't teleport?"

This was too much. Harry actually burst out laughing. He had to lean on his staff for support.

"…what? What did I say?"

Wiping tears from his eyes, Harry finally said "No, I can't teleport. No wizard I have ever met can teleport."

"Maybe it's a Nemesian thing. Like the Draining, and the Third Eye…," she mused.

"I've got one of that last one. Kinda. Sorta. So Nemesian wizards have Wizard's Sight too?

"…Sight? I'm guessing you don't just mean seeing things?"

Harry was less amused and more confused at the moment. "...same page, different playbook?" he asked, shrugging. "What else could you mean by 'Third Eye'?"

"Control," she said simply. "Though only Prince Demando can use it so well, Saffir won't even try."

"Control? Control what?"

"Minds."

Harry coughed a bit. "_Minds?!_ ...I _do_ hope he knows better then to _try_ that here. Least not if he likes his head where it is."

She nodded hesitantly. "Prince Demando can't do it for very long, but it's saved his life before… and Heir-Prince Saffir, like I said, won't do it."

_"Good." How powerful _are _these freaks?_

"I don't know," she said doubtfully. "It may get him killed."

"You're right. Except for the 'may' part." Harry looked her up and down. "You're awfully casual about this sort of thing. How old are you?"

"Seventeen," she replied, blinking.

"...seventeen? As in a numeral one followed by a numeral seven?"

"Yes. An adult."

"Adult? What planet are _you_ fro- oh, right, sorry."

She smiled. "We grow up quickly on Nemesis."

Harry sighed. "Life draining. Mind control. This isn't a can of worms, it's a drum of vipers."

"We don't drain life," the blue-haired girl objected. "We drain _power_."

"Be more specific next time, I'm new at this. This...uh, Jasper guy. Can _he_ control minds?"

"Jaspis? Thank Khaos, no. He's a Darkstar, as am I. We're the Drainers. The Blackmoon clan has the Third Eye."

"You guys should do a pamphlet or something if you're gonna keep showing up. But anyway, I don't know what it's like where you come from, but that kind of thing is a biiig no-no 'round these parts."

"Oh." She looked crestfallen. "I… I didn't know that."

"And now you know that. So what's this other guy's business here, and more importantly, does it affect me?"

"Jaspis? It probably won't, unless he finds out this city has other people of power besides him and the Heir-Prince. Saffir trapped him here when he was blocked from going home."

"...swell."

"I… I can probably keep him in check until Heir-Prince Saffir is able to face him again," she added hesitantly. "I just don't know how long."

Harry sighed, once again. He was doing that a lot today, too. He was considering using it as a way to measure his bad days. "Need a hand?"

"Only if he finds out where my loyalties lie." She shivered. "If he does, I'll never go home."

"There's a Motel 6 just down the block."

"A… what?"

"...never mind." Digging around in his pockets, Harry pulled out another business card. The things were paying for themselves already.

She looked the card over. "Harry Dresden…" Those grey eyes turned back on him. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. Send blue boy my regards. I don't suppose there's a chance of y'all basting off back to a galaxy far, far away any time soon?"

"As soon as Saffir's powers return, we can go back and never bother you again," she promised.

"Excellent. I'll hold you to that."

"I wish people at home were like you. Everyone is nicer in the past." That said, she vanished, promise and warning given.

Harry had started to turn back, but stopped in tracks. "…what… did… you… _say?_" He was too late – the girl was nowhere to be found. The wizard stood in place for a few minutes, as if frozen in time.

Then he screamed. Loudly.

--‡--‡--‡--

Jaspis Darkstar stood quietly at the top of one of this primitive city's skyscrapers, letting the wind tug at his cape and send it flying dramatically around him. "I could get used to this," he commented as a flare of energy went off behind his back.

"Jaspis, are you sure this will work?" his younger sister asked him, stepping to his side. "Saffir is the smartest man on Nemesis—"

"Which is why we have to outdo him," he replied, putting his arm around the slender girl. "And we have to do it without giving away what I learned in Crystal Tokyo." He gently put two fingers to his sister's clan mark, stripping away the illusion he'd laid on her and leaving her as tanned as he was. "And without mentioning too many details of the war," he added. "I'm personally more worried about Dresden. Rumour on the street is that he's been made a Warden, which means we can't tell him we're from the future."

Lapis Lazuli coloured. "Um…"

Jaspis sighed. "You let it slip. No matter. We'll just have to prove we have no intention of traversing time again. Even if we have to get Sailor Pluto to vouch for us."

The girl shivered. "I hope not. She scares me."

He ruffled his sister's hair. "Don't worry about it. Even if this White Council comes for us, they'll never be able to catch us. Wizards don't teleport."

"That's what Dresden said. But we can't go to him in his home," Lapis reported. "He has some sort of warding system set up. It dropped me outside his door, rather than inside." She rubbed at her arms and added, "It hurt, too…"

Jaspis was instantly all concern, looking her over. "You're not injured, are you? Is—"

"I'm _fine_," Lapis told him tolerantly. "Stop worrying about me. You're going to have to step twice as fast to play the _erbeprinz_ and Dresden without getting killed."

* * *

_Like I'd make it obvious who the villain is._

_:D_

_ Anyway, as said before, Jaspis and Lapis and all speculations on Nemesian society are mine; nothing else is. 'Erbeprinz' is German for 'heir prince', which is Saffir's rank in my view of Nemesis._

_ETA 01-22-07: Thanks again to GG Crono for playing Harry for me. Thanks also to Rosethorn for being my Murphy. Sorry for not crediting y'all earlier.  
_


	3. Silver Tongue

Time Slip  
CHAPTER THREE  
Silver Tongue

* * *

Saffir regained consciousness in a single instant, breathing heavily. The _last_ thing he needed was another nightmare! He then winced and rubbed at his sore shoulder, then hissed in pain. _That's right… Jaspis attacked me_, he thought, remembering the older man shouting, "_Kathetos_!" as he swung his broadsword. Saffir hadn't been expecting that – his rival was well-known for his inability to get a handle on battle magic. It looked as though he'd found a way around that, giving him an advantage over the Blue Prince. "_Verdammt_," he growled, looking at his body to take stock of his injuries.

His chest, it would seem, wasn't as badly damaged as he'd thought – his arms had taken the brunt of what had gotten past his hastily constructed shield, leaving him with a few gashes that required stitches. His right shoulder was badly scraped from its forceful introduction to pavement, but the wound had already congealed. His left shoulder had required even more stitches than his chest had, and both of his forearms were heavily bandaged.

Despite this, he actually felt fairly good – but then again, compared to the energy Jaspis had stolen from him, he'd gotten off lightly. Frowning, Saffir took an internal stock of his power levels and winced. Jaspis had taken not only what he'd need to jump a thousand years into the future, he'd also taken what he'd need to get back to Nemesis! The Blue Prince knew that if he hadn't utilised the Third Eye when he had, Jaspis likely would have left him as powerless as any human, a notion Saffir did _not_ cherish.

His self-assessment out of the way, he turned his dark blue eyes on the room he'd awoken in. It was fairly obvious that he was in a hospital of some kind – after all, the policewoman who'd found him had called an ambulance -- but he seemed to have a single room. There was also a police officer in there with him, but the man was asleep, leading Saffir to believe it was early morning, perhaps near oh-three-hundred hours or so.

The Blue Prince had absolutely no problem with this – he needed to get a look at his records. Checking to make sure he wasn't being observed, he raised his left hand and stretched it out towards the clipboard on the back of the door. As soon as he had a firm mental grip on it, he gently eased it from its holder and pulled it back towards him.

As soon as it was in his hands, he relaxed his magical hold on it and began to puzzle out what it said. It had been awhile since he'd had to read Roman script, but he quickly grew re-accustomed to the strange alphabet and puzzled out the attending doctor's handwriting. He was amused to find that the doctor could give no good reason as to why he had lost consciousness – he hadn't lost near enough blood for that – and suggested peripheral fatigue as the culprit, which rather impressed the Blue Prince.

_The symptoms aren't too different, after all_, he mused, putting the papers back in order as if he had never handled them. _I wonder why they filled in my name as John Doe…_

With a sigh, he floated the clipboard back to its resting place and proceeded to stare up at the city. He would have to feign unconsciousness again if his energy levels didn't replenish up to teleporting-level before dawn… then again, his room had a window. He might not be able to keep up the act against that damned sun, and then he'd have to answer all kinds of questions that he didn't want to answer. _Which means _lying

Thus decided, he turned his gaze on the policeman sleeping just inside the door of his room. Saffir was an accomplished liar, especially when given time to plan out his story in advance, but he didn't need the man waking up while he created the necessary identification. His eyes narrowed to slits, then widened as he opened his Third Eye and turned it on his watcher. A nearly-invisible beam of light shot from the mark on his forehead to the policeman's sixth chakra. Gently, the Blue Prince deepened his sleep, then withdrew, the black moon crescent reverting to its normal state as he did.

Next he turned his attention on the Earthling's wallet, carefully easing it from his back pocket – after all, he had only shifted the man into delta sleep, from which he could be wakened – and bringing it to his hand. Now came the hard part – fabricating an identification card from the sample he now had.

It took him the better part of two hours to do this, three times during which he had to feign unconsciousness when a nurse came in to check on him. He also had to alter the policeman back to delta sleep after one of those visits. By the time he had replaced the ID and returned the wallet to its former place, he was completely exhausted. Using the last of his strength, he moved his new identification card to the hidden pocket in his pants, then let sleep overtake him.

--‡--‡--‡--

Saffir fought his way back to consciousness some hours later, and immediately took internal stock of his magical energy. He was relieved to note that he had passed the minimum needed for a teleportation, though he suspected he would pay for wearing himself out at a later date.

This done, he opened his eyes to find that, as expected, the room was flooded with sunlight. "_Zu hell_!" he cried, bringing his arms up to protect his eyes, swearing as his shoulders protested the sudden movement. This was not promising to be a good day.

"Something wrong?" Murphy asked dryly, from where she was leaning in the doorway. She'd been having a word or two with the man set to guard the John Doe overnight; he'd slept all night, and what would have happened if the other man had come back? She arched an eyebrow at the man.

"It's too bright," he growled, genuine pain underlying his voice. "And my shoulders hurt." He didn't move his arms from the protective shield they'd formed over his face.

Murphy moved away from the door and closed the blinds with a swift jerk to the cord. "Better?" she asked.

"Much. Thank you," he said, letting his arms down and blinking owlishly a few times. "_Dumme helle Sonne_," he added under his breath.

"I can't do much about the shoulders," she said, ignoring the foreign language; it sounded like a swear word, anyway. "You'll have to talk to the nurses. Do you feel up to talking about what happened to you yesterday?"

He shrugged and winced. "Not particularly, Lieutenant Murphy."

Murph winced a bit. "Detective-sergeant," she corrected. "But thank you for the inadvertent promotion. May I at least ask your name?"

He looked a bit startled at the correction. "Saffir Schwarzemond, And I apologise for my mistake. I… misread your rank."

She shrugged. "It's all right. You didn't have any identification, and Harry didn't give me your name." She paused a moment, then asked, "Is there a particular reason you don't want to talk about last night?"

_Because you Gaians wouldn't understand a thing about it_, he thought. Obviously he should have focused less on proper identification and more on explaining away Jaspis. "He and I… I suppose you could say we are enemies," he replied very carefully. "Rivals is a bit too mild a term."

Murphy nodded, slowly. Motive, check. "Would you be willing to work with a sketch artist to identify this man?"

"You don't want to go against him," Saffir said immediately, shaking his head.

"It is my job," Murphy replied, carefully. "And I have gone up against some rather formidable foes and come out on top." With Harry's help, mostly, but there was no need to tell him that.

"Not like Jaspis," the boy insisted. "He was using moves _I've_ never seen him use before."

Uh-huh. "I need to know, sir," she said. "Someone is walking around my city causing trouble and it's my job to stop him."

"You won't be able to catch him." He paused, then added as though he thought he was taking a gamble, "Unless you can track a teleport, which is a feat none has ever achieved to my knowledge."

Murphy coughed. "No, unfortunately I don't think we've managed that yet. Though forensics can manage some quite astonishing things, and I'm certain one of these days they'll work something out. I still have to try." She let another moment of silence go by. "With or without your help."

There was no mistaking it. The boy definitely winced. "You don't understand. If you're not prepared, he'll _kill_ you."

Ha. Score one for the cop chick--and it was probably wise to not even _think _that phrase around Harry, though Saffir was probably safe. "So give me all the preparation you can manage," she said. "I'm going after him either way."

"_Deshalb viel wie_ _Demando..._," he muttered, then said, "Not without me."

She shrugged. "Whatever you want," she said, having absolutely no intention of letting him come along. "I can't sign you out AMA. You could probably do that on your own. Or else you can wait until they release you."

He looked blank. "Ay em ay?"

"Against medical advice."

Now he scowled, the expression making him seem older. "He's not easy to miss. Green and purple hair, black star on his forehead, cape and sword. Subtlety isn't his strong point. I really don't think you should track him down. He's _powerful._"

Murphy produced a small notebook from her left-hand pocket and scribbled down a quick description, then arched a blonde eyebrow at Saffir. "I've taken on some quite powerful things in my time. Is there anything specific I should be guarding against?"

"His sword, mainly. Energy blasts coming from his sword, and I'd love to know where he learned _that_ particular trick, since we're both of us bad at battle magic." A pause, then, "He's rather fond of teleporting in order to catch his opponent by surprise."

"Energy blasts that do _what, _exactly? Throw you backwards? Turn you into a toad?"

For answer, Saffir held out his bandaged forearms to her. "You saw the wounds he left me with," he said softly. "I was _shielding_, and I still wound up like that. I honestly have no idea what they'll do to someone who can't shield."

She hissed through her teeth. "Right. I'll make a stop with our consultant before I do anything further, then. Anything else?"

"He might just decide you're not worth bothering with and take your energy. It's an ability unique to his bloodline. It's what put me out, not my injuries. Can't you see this is folly?" he cried, his accent growing thicker in his distress.

"I'm a monster cop. It's my job to engage in folly." Well, it wasn't strictly in the job description, but generally people in SI were prone to folly. "And I'm experienced at coming out of it intact."

Saffir murmured something that might have been a prayer, or a curse, or both. "Do as you will," he said at last, a trace of resignation in his voice. "I won't stop you."

Game, set and match. "Thank you," she said, and put the notebook away. "Do you want to be checked out of the hospital, or would you prefer to stay?"

He eyed the window darkly. "I'll wait until nightfall."

She nodded. "I'll let the nurses know."

--‡--‡--‡--

Jaspis tilted back the brim of the ball cap he was using to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the hospital where he'd tracked the Blue Prince's presence to. "The next move is yours, _erbeprinz_," he said softly, smiling. "Make it an interesting one."

He stepped back into the crowd as the blonde cop who'd spotted them last night vacated the building. Making a split-second decision, he flicked his fingers and planted a tracking spell on her, then turned to walk away.

Murphy stopped, frowning. What the hell had that unusual feeling been?

--‡--‡--‡--

Saffir, it seemed, couldn't be arsed to bother with paperwork.

As soon as the far-too-bright sun (which he would need to accustom himself to sooner or later) went down, Saffir teleported outside. He swayed a little, putting a hand against the building to steady himself. It was possible that he should have waited a bit longer before teleporting, but he was not patient enough for that right now. That policewoman could be getting killed by Jaspis right now.

Frustrated, he ran a pale hand through his blue hair. How the hell had this gotten so complicated? All he'd wanted to do was test a time-jumping technique. But now Jaspis had managed to replicate his research, a feat that caused Saffir to grit his teeth and wonder how the other scholar had gotten into his laboratory – and just where he'd picked up that particular bit of battle magic.

Then Saffir sensed it – someone equal in power to the Sailor Senshi, though there was something much more… divine about it. "A paladin?" Saffir murmured as he realised that if he could sense this particular mortal, he in turn was probably more than detectable. Making a split-second decision, Saffir teleported a second time, this time moving to the roof of the nearest skyscraper. Even though most of his magic energy had restored itself, he was still below the minimum required for a time jump to his present. He didn't have the energy to waste explaining possible misunderstandings to a paladin. Divine magic, as Rubeus had learned the hard way, had a bad effect on their people.

"This is getting out-of-hand," the Blue Prince muttered, looking down at the city below. "I've got to get home."

--‡--‡--‡--

"So you're saying that he will destroy us if allowed to regain his strength?" René asked the oddly garbed figure floating before him and Alisaunder.

"Yes," it growled in a layered voice, as though two mouths were speaking at once. "I have foreseen it."

Alisaunder spat. "And why should we believe you?" he sneered. "I don't put stock in fortune-telling."

The man – the 'voice' was masculine, at any rate – gave the impression that he was arching an eyebrow behind the shadows created by the cloak's hood. "Did I not predict the feast you and your brother have just partaken of?"

René glanced down at the bodies at their feet and shrugged. "He has a point. And if that man is as powerful as he says, well…" The vampire cracked his knuckles. "We would do well to feast on him now, rather than wait for him to regain his full strength."

Alisaunder snorted. "Count me out of this one," he told his brother. "I'm walking." He turned on his heel and began to stride out of the alley.

Two orbs, at a level where eyes would be, glowed to life within the hooded cloak as the fortune-teller raised his crystal slightly. "Do not turn your back on me, boy!" A black bolt of energy shot out from the sphere, heading right for the departing vampire.

"Alisaunder!" René cried as the blast hit.

The vampire screamed in pain as what looked like black lightning played over his body, his back arching while every muscle in his body spasmed. Then the attack ended, and Alisaunder collapsed. René ran to his brother as the cloaked figure chuckled darkly. "Get rid of Saffir of the Black Moon clan," he ordered, "or the pain you feel shall be tenfold!"

* * *

_And the plot, such as it is, thickens! Whither goeth a member of the Nemesian royal family, there too goeth intrigue and backstabbing politics. Literally. Many thanks to Rosethorn for again being my Murphy. For the record, this is a combination of the Dresden Files bookverse and the Sailor Moon R anime. See y'all later!_


	4. Mortal Kombat

Time Slip  
CHAPTER FOUR  
Mortal Kombat

* * *

It was close to the peak of the moon's path through the night sky when Saffir felt it was truly safe to come down from his high perch. Sensing that paladin had shaken him; he wasn't ready to deal with divine magic just yet. Perhaps in a few years, once he was safely back on Nemesis – ha, now there was an unusual thought – he would be, but now? No.

It didn't help that he kept seeing Jaspis in his mind's eye when he'd trapped the Blue Prince in this time – and how _tanned_ the man was. Even for a Nemesian, Saffir was considered dark from all the starlight that bathed his skin these days. But now Jaspis had gone beyond that, to a colour nearly as dark as this world's people were!

Either the older man had been wearing an illusion – and if so, why not conceal his clan marking or his rather distinctive hair? – or he'd been on Earth far longer than Saffir had. "Something is not right here," he growled as he turned down an alley.

The scrape of a boot heel against pavement was the only warning Saffir got before a creature almost as pale as he was lunged for him.

It was more than enough for his Nemesis-honed senses.

As its arms closed around him, Saffir vanished from sight, only to reappear a moment later a few metres away. The creature – no, a human male! – stumbled and landed on his face. Saffir arched a navy brow. "Tch. You call that an attack?" he asked him.

Another scrape; Saffir pivoted on his heel and threw a second assailant into the wall. "Pathetic, the both of you," he sneered as they unsteadily got to their feet. Now that he had time to sense them out further, he realised that they weren't human at all – no, they were something in a human guise—

Dark metaphorical fangs sank into his magical probe, and Saffir cried out, startled., hastily yanking back on his power. Whatever they were had a bite to it. The first one, which had been moving stiffly, hissed at him. "Why don't you just lay down and die, Blue Prince?"

Saffir's eyes widened – they had been sent for him? His first instinct was to blame Jaspis, but Jaspis truly preferred to fight his own battles. So who?

The first creature hissed and lunged for him, and Saffir yelled, letting a blue burst of energy fly at it, knocking it completely out of the alley before turning to the second one, ducking under its grab and driving a sharp elbow into its gut, then teleporting another few feet down the alley before it could regain the air it had lost.

Harry Dresden was not having a great day, which was not improved in the least bit by a man flying out of an alley as he walked past, narrowly missing him. "...must be Tuesday," he muttered, turning into the alley.

It really wasn't a good day at all. A very familiar blue-haired man had just elbow-slammed another man, and then vanished from underneath it only to reappear a few feet further down the alley, leaving his assailant to fall to the ground, gasping for breath.

"...I must be on candid camera or something," Harry muttered, bringing his staff to bear. "Hey, is this a private party or can I come too?"

Startled, both men looked at him; the nameless man's eyes widened. "Oh, shit," he breathed. "Alisaunder! It's Dresden!"

Saffir took advantage of his opponent's distraction to fire off a ball of blue energy into his back, throwing him to the ground with a howl of pain.

"It's _so_ nice to be recognized," said Harry, approaching the now-fallen man and pinning him with a well-placed foot. "Somebody want to tell me what's going on here?"

Saffir was breathing heavily and looking angry. "They attacked me is what's going on here – no, you don't!" He vanished, only to reappear again with 'Alisaunder' in what looked like a painful lock.

"Oooh, that's gotta hurt," said Harry, restraining the smile he felt. He turned his attention to the man under his foot. "You may or may not have a legitimate beef with Little Boy Blue over here, but this is _my_ city, and when you start shit in my city, it tends to irk me a little."

Alisaunder snarled, and threw Saffir off of him. To his surprise, the Blue Prince caught himself _in mid-air and stayed there_. "Bad move," Saffir murmured, that blue glow shimmering around his hand again as he raised it, palm towards the other man.

Thrusting his staff out, Harry growled _"Forzare!"_. The runes on his staff flared to life as a burst of invisible force rocketed outward at Alisaunder.

The blue glow died as Alisaunder was blasted back and hit a wall _hard_. Saffir blinked. "Interesting… does the spoken word make it invisible?" he wondered as he touched down lightly, crouching down by the fallen man. "He's out," he reported a moment later.

"I'm not sure I follow," replied Harry, raising an eyebrow. "It's just a spell." He turned his attention back to the still-pinned man. "Since your little buddy is currently out of it, _you're_ the lucky one who gets to tell me what you all are doing here. Won't _that_ be fun."

"Good luck with that, Dresden," he spat. "I'll tell you nothing!"

Saffir smiled slightly. "Mr Dresden, what would you say if I told you the man under your foot wasn't human?"

"I'd say 'another day, another freak'." He proceeded to shove the point of his staff in the pinned man's face and sent just enough will into it to make the runes glow. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that. _What_ did you say?"

The man didn't answer, snarling angrily. Barely audible were the words, "Lying fortune-teller…"

"Fortune-teller? What's he talking about?"

Saffir's eyes widened, and he peered down at the pinned man. "This fortune-teller… was he in a cloak that hid his face? Possibly with a crystal ball and levitating?"

"What, are we being assailed by inhuman carnies now or something?"

Saffir ignored him, staring into the nameless man's face. "Tell me!" he demanded, sounding angry now.

Perhaps there was something in Saffir's voice that convinced, him, or maybe his murderous expression. Whatever it was, the nameless man paled and began to babble about the cloaked figure that had appeared to him and his brother, trading them an easy meal – two hookers who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time – for the death of the Blue Prince.

"That's all I needed to hear," said Harry, shaking his head sadly. _"Forzare."_ The runes flared with energy as a much stronger force blast removed the vampire's head.

Saffir growled, approaching the unconscious Alisaunder. He regarded the man dispassionately for a moment, then crouched down to one side of him and coolly slit his throat, avoiding the spray of blood. There was something _dark_ about his anger as he turned to face Harry, snarling, "Wiseman…"

Harry looked down at the now-dead vampires, shaking his head a bit.

Then he socked Saffir in the face.

The Blue Prince stumbled backwards, absolutely _stunned_. "What the hell!?" he sputtered, one hand covering his eye protectively now.

"You've come a long way to get here, I've head," said Harry, not meeting his eyes.

"I told you that," he growled, glaring at the older man.

"I had a very strange visitor not long ago," he continued, "who told me a great many things. _After_ trying to sneak into my home. Such a nice girl, you'd never have expected it."

_A girl?_ _Nice? Who… no, it couldn't be…_ "And did your visitor have a name?" Saffir demanded.

"Called herself Lapis. We had a _nice_ little chat... your highness."

The Blue Prince groaned, leaning back against the wall. "_This is the _last _thing I need_," he muttered in his native language.

This time, Harry couldn't stop himself from grinning a little. He did _not_ enjoy watching Saffir squirm, nope, not at all.

One cold blue eye focused on Harry. "Just how much did she tell you?"

"She let slip _exactly_ how far you came to get here."

Saffir was far from slow. "I don't think she let you know the _exact_ distance travelled," he replied coolly, "though I will allow she may have let slip the method."

"I should probably warn you that the local wizards tend to...frown upon that sort of thing," said Harry, starting to pace. "Lucky for you, I have a problem with authority."

"_If it isn't one thing, it's another. When it isn't _Sailor Pluto _it's the local powers that be._" Part of that sentence, oddly enough, had been in English. "Define 'frown upon'."

Harry responded by running one finger across his throat in a throat-slitting motion, completely with accompanying sound effect. "The wizards here have laws against certain things, and mucking with time is one of them."

"Capital punishment. I assume there's no warnings for first-time offenders." Saffir smiled in private amusement. "I wonder if they know about her…"

"Warnings. Ahahahah. You're a funny guy. Would I be incorrect in assuming that this _her_ is the girl I spoke to?"

"Yes," Saffir replied with a mysterious smile.

"The way she sounded, she didn't follow you alone."

"I was referring to neither of the Darkstar siblings," Saffir told him. "I've already had one encounter with Jaspis."

"So you've mentioned. This situation is certainly...snowballing a little."

"That's an understatement." Saffir gestured to the bodies. "Someone else followed me back here. I need to find Jaspis and make him restore my power."

"Sounds like a plan to me. How do you plan on doing that, hm?"

"I don't know. But I'll need to find a way to do it fast, before someone in your city dies."

"Change of subject: So why would this Wiseguy send vampires after you?"

"The Wiseman," Saffir said calmly, "is my brother's advisor. And I now have proof that he's trying to kill me. We shouldn't discuss this here."

Harry mulled this over for a moment. "Fair enough."

The Blue Prince hesitated a second. "We might want to discuss this with your policewoman friend. With the Wiseman involved, all bets are off, and she might get caught in the crossfire."

_That_ caught Harry's attention. "I'll send her a few words on your behalf. Meanwhile, you lay low. Got a way I can contact you?"

"None," Saffir admitted. "I've only been here for a little over twenty-four hours"

"Can you meet us at the tavern, tomorrow evening?"

Saffir nodded. "That I can."

"Good." Harry reached into his pocket and flicked a business card at the Prince. "You can contact me there." And with that, he turned and walked away.

Seconds later, Saffir flickered and vanished, retreating again to the roof tops.

—‡—‡—‡—

Jaspis was using his tracking spell and illusions to follow the blonde policewoman, curious to see just what her connection to the Blue Prince was, when his senses picked up a _droid, _of all things. His immediate reaction was to suspect the Blue Prince had decided to get her out of the way, but he realised within seconds that not only did this droid not have the presence of the ones Saffir created, Saffir hadn't learned _how_ to create droids until he was twenty-one.

And the Saffir he'd trapped in the twentieth century was nineteen.

"_Scheiße_," he breathed, completely forgetting the cop and focusing his attention on the droid. He spotted it just as it lunged for her. "_Vorsicht_!" he yelled, forgetting completely that he was trying to keep a low profile for the time being as he drew his sword from its illusion-concealed sheath, catching the droid's blade-arm on it.

The force of the blow nearly drove him to his knees before he caught himself enough to shove back against the quasi-human monster, dropping his illusion as he did so. Catching the energy he'd fuelled into said illusion, he channelled it through his sword and pushed against the droid once more, forcing it off-balance. He leapt back and swung his sword, shouting, "_Kathetos!_" to unleash the energy stored within the blade.

To his utter amazement, the droid turned his attack back on him; Hastily, Jaspis brought his sword into a guarding position and cried, "_Aspída_!" His reflected attack splashed against his hastily constructed shield, and Jaspis swore viciously.

Murphy, fortunately for Jaspis, took the droid's sudden appearance in stride. She stepped back, took careful aim, and fired at one of the thing's eyes. _This is a new one..._

It howled in pain and stumbled back, but didn't seem to be dying despite the bullet to the brain pan. The man snarled something in a language similar to the one Saffir had spoken in from time to time and lunged forward, bringing his sword up to engage the droid again. Unfortunately, he seemed to have forgotten that the creature had _two_ blade-arms. One parried his sword, while the other lanced into his side.

His reflexes, however, were fast. Before he could be cut fatally, he vanished, re-appearing next to Murphy and falling to his knees. "_Scheiße!"_

Murphy muttered something derogatory about civilians and moved in front of him, firing steadily on the thing. Nothing she did seemed to have any impact, though she placed the bullets as precisely as she could. She swore, and shifted her aim to the knee-joints. If she took out a leg, it would _have _to fall, hurt or not.

"The crystal!" gasped the man beside her, forcing himself to his feet. "Aim for the crystal!"

Sure enough, it was wearing a crystal-like pendant that remained oddly still for the rapid movements it had been making.

"Right," she murmured, took aim, and shot. And swore again when the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. Murph ejected the spent clip, shoved another in, aimed, and fired, shattering the crystal.

The man loosed a sigh of relief as the droid shrieked, shaded to grey, and collapsed into dust. "So it is a power source. Good to know." He shrugged off his cape and began ripping it apart, clearly intending to bandage his still-bleeding wound.

Murphy holstered the gun, and turned to glare at her would-be rescuer. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

He winced as he wound the cloth tightly around his abdomen with practised ease. "We were never able to figure out if the crystals powered the droids or not."

"Good to know," she said, consciously echoing him. "What the hell is a droid and why was it doing its best to kill you?"

"Golem, essentially." He grunted as he tied off the makeshift bandage, sheathing his sword as he added, "And I'm not sure. I mean, there's a number of reasons why. The problem would be figuring out which one it was – had I been the target."

"Ah," Murphy said. "You can figure it out in protective custody. Come on."

"There isn't a need for that, detective," he told her. "I can detect the damn things."

Murphy gave him a flat, unfriendly look. "Detecting's no good if you get your throat slit. And then _I _have to explain a John Doe who appears to be a vampire or something. I've done enough creative writing for this month, so let's go."

"I'd prefer to talk to the Blu—ah, Saffir, really. In any case, it wasn't after me."

She took a deep breath through her nose, and reminded herself that losing her temper with this person (whoever the hell _he _was) wasn't going to help. "You can do that. He's still in the hospital. As for protective custody...I'm sorry, did I give you the impression I was asking?"

"Actually, he's probably out of the hospital now that the sun is down." Jaspis shrugged. "He'll eventually learn patience, but whatever. And again, that droid wasn't trying to kill _me_. It wanted _you_, detective."

* * *

_Ooooh, _ _a cliffhanger! Don't y'all hate me now? --is shot--_

_Anyway. Thanks again to GG Crono and Rosethorn for being my Harry and my Murph, since I just can't get their voices down._


	5. Sunshine Moonlight

Time Slip  
CHAPTER FIVE  
Sunshine Moonlight

* * *

_That _little piece of news stopped her for a moment. "Oh, really," she said, carefully. "And why would that be?"

The man paused. "Honestly, I couldn't tell you. Droids were never big on brains – maybe it felt the Blue Prince on you."

"Mm-_hm. _It felt him how? Is this your standard magical-transference?"

The man nodded, brushing some multicoloured strands of hair off his shoulders. "Which implies that Saffir is the actual target."

"Oh, _joy." _She sighed. "And if he's run off from the hospital... do me a favor and go about ten feet that way. Don't run off, though. I will catch you and I won't be happy."

"My magic doesn't affect technology," he told her with a slight smile. "However, if it makes you happier…"

Murph flipped open her cell phone and made a quick call to the cop on the scene; sure enough, the boy was gone. She shook her head in disgust and put the phone away. "Of course. Of _course. _I hate life sometimes."

-

As he shambled through the door of his apartment, Harry wanted nothing more than a week's rest and a stiff drink. Seeing as how her wasn't going to get that, he collapsed in one of his chairs and dialled Murphy's number.

-

The cell phone vibrated against her thigh and she grabbed for it, wondering just who the hell was calling her now. If it was the same cop calling back with some teensy tiny bit of information that was going to ruin her day worse...

"Detective-Sergeant Murphy," she said.

"I've got some good news and some bad news, Murph," said Harry. "Except for the 'good news' part."

Murphy stared at the phone for a moment, then said something very nasty indeed. "_Do _tell."

Jaspis eyed Murphy, and took a prudent step back.

Harry proceeded to fill her in on all the juicy details on his encounter with Saffir and the vampires. "And I don't need magic to tell me that it'll only get worse from here."

She stood for a moment with her mouth half-open, and then said, "He said I might get caught in the crossfire. Did you interpret that as a threat at all?"

"I don't know what to interpret as anything anymore. But I, for one, would rather err on the side of caution."

"Well, it's a little late to avoid it," she said, eyeing the remains of the droid. "I just want to know if he's the one who sent this thing."

"He wasn't," Jaspis said immediately. "He can't make them yet."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "There's a thing involved?"

"Yes, there is, and apparently, your boy isn't involved in it." She pulled the phone away from her face and hissed, "Yet?"

Jaspis coughed lightly and eyed the sky. "He doesn't have the knowledge or the power required," he replied carefully.

Murph eyed him suspiciously, but finally just nodded.

"Who's with you?"

"I don't know his name." She eyed him, then lowered her voice and said, "But I think it might be someone your boy mentioned. Speaking of him, when did you talk to him last?"

"Cant've been more than twenty minutes ago."

She cursed again, and said, "If you catch up to him again, hang on to him. I need to talk to him."

"Yes, ma'am. Meanwhilst, watch your back."

"Consider it watched." She hung up.

Jaspis frowned. "Why did the Blue Prince say you might get caught in the crossfire?"

"He didn't say." Murph dropped her cell phone into her pocket, and tipped her head to the side contemplatively. "Or he didn't say directly. Someone called the Wiseman is involved, apparently, and indiscriminate in his firing."

Jaspis' eyes widened. "Th-the Wiseman?" All colour had drained from his face.

Murphy blinked. "That's what he said. I take it that's bad."

"Very bad. It means he knows Saffir's _here_. I've got to get him—"

A blast of sunlight cut him off, lighting the city almost as if it were noon before dying down quickly.

"The hell was that?" Murphy took a couple of steps away from the building and stared up at the sky.

Jaspis frowned. "…Lapis…?"

Lapis. Harry had mentioned someone by that name... "Who?"

"My little sister." He bowed to her abruptly. "I'll be right back." That said, he vanished from sight.

Murphy opened her mouth to say something, then sighed, and slumped back against the building. "Why I even bother..." she asked the brick. "Honestly, I don't know why I get involved with these things anymore."

* * *

Lapis Lazuli fell to her knees, breathing heavily, one arm held protectively over her abdomen. "Th-that's what… you get," she panted, glaring at the burnt husk of the thing that had attacked her. Using this world's magic was exhausting, but she dared not use what little power she had been granted by Nemesis in her condition. And she couldn't help but feel that her power had fuelled more than a little of the spell she had used…

"Lapis!"

A strong arm wrapped around her shoulders, and Lapis Lazuli gratefully leaned against her older brother. "Hi," she said, smiling up at him.

He didn't smile back. "Lapis, what happened? I think the entire _city_ saw that light!"

She shrugged. "A vampire decided that I'd be a nice snack. I disabused it of the notion."

Jaspis was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Come on. I told the nice cop I'd be right back, and I'd rather not have her angry at me."

"…cop? Jaspis, what's going on?"

He didn't answer, helping her to her feet and leading her to where he had left Murphy.

Murph opened her eyes when she heard them arriving, and widened them a bit. "Goodness," she said, a touch caustically. "I didn't think you actually _would _come back."

"I keep my word, Detective," he replied, keeping his arm around his sister's shoulders. "Lapis, this is Detective-Sergeant Murphy. Detective, this is my little sister, Lapis Lazuli."

"You're the first," Murph muttered, looking the girl up and down. Young, visibly pregnant, and visibly exhausted, she looked awful. "You look like your day was as long as mine. My sympathies."

Lapis Lazuli opened her mouth to say something, but her brother was faster. "I think I will take you up on that _protective custody_ after all," he said quietly. "It would seem that the Blue Prince isn't his only target."

"_Erbeprinz_ Saffir is in danger?" Lapis blurted, staring up at Jaspis. "Why didn't you say so? I have to—"

"You, sister, need rest."

Boy, _that _conversation sounded familiar. "Let's go, then," she interrupted, as tactfully as she could. "You can fight it out in the car."

A brief spate of that weird Germanic language between them, then Lapis sighed and nodded. It was strange – the pair of them didn't look like siblings, save for the black star adorning each of their brows. Again that bow from the man – who still hadn't given her his name – before he said, "Lead the way, Detective."

"Right, then," she said, slightly nonplussed by the ease with which he'd agreed to this. She'd been expecting a fight. "In that case, I'd like your name."

He grinned lazily. "Well, it had to come out sooner or later. I am the Verdant Lord, Jaspis of the Dark Star clan. Well, what's left of it."

She barely even blinked. "That means absolutely nothing to me. You are aware of this, I assume."

"Of course. I figured I'd get the title out of the way. Though my ID has me down as Jaspis Morgenstern."

Something had been kicking at Murphy's brain since he'd told her his name. It finally gave up on kicking and charged screaming and on fire into the front of her mind. "_Jaspis," _she said, sharply. "So where were you last night? Say, around eleven."

"I was teasing the Prince," Jaspis replied easily. "And warning him that he shouldn't relax despite being on another planet."

"Teasing," Murphy said flatly, "does not usually leave gashes six inches across."

"You never met my cousins. Frankly, Detective, it wasn't the wounds that put him under – and I wasn't anticipating him using so weak a shield. He knows my power and how much he needs to use when dealing with me. I miscalculated."

Murphy eyed him dubiously. "That isn't the story I got from him. I'm tempted to charge you with assault and battery, Jaspis."

Jaspis shrugged. "You could. Of course, by now the evidence of his wounds are gone. And with any luck, he'll be back on Nemesis before dawn – and the Wiseman with him."

Lapis Lazuli touched her brother's arm. "Jaspis… he doesn't know how to heal yet."

"…damn it, I'm supposed to _remember_ everything he couldn't do when he was nineteen?"

"Hospital got photos," Murph said, with perhaps a faint touch of smugness to the tone. "Ridiculously fast healing is for the doctors to figure out. What the hell is Nemesis?"

The siblings exchanged a look, then Jaspis nodded. "Nemesis is the tenth planet," Lapis said quietly. "However, it is so steeped in negative energy that it is very rare for it to even show up on scientific instrumentation."

Murphy blinked. And blinked again.

"...you know, I've heard some pretty wild things from Harry. But nothing tops that."

Jaspis took up the story. "Our people were banished from Earth for some crime or other hundreds of years ago. Probably a century or so from now."

She said nothing, merely regarded him with a sceptical expression. The man smirked. "You do realise that our hair is naturally coloured this way."

"Nice to know. I'd ask why but I was never any good at science." She said this somewhat on autopilot, the rest of her brain busy working on a problem. She couldn't take them to the station now, that was obvious. Asking Harry to look out for them was a possibility, but she couldn't pay him, and requisitioning payment would cause problems.

She watched the both of them thoughtfully.

Jaspis merely looked smug, damn that man, but his sister was saying something to him in a low, worried tone. His face turned slightly graver as he listened, then he replied back in that vitriolic-sounding language. Only a few words she understood: "Saffir", "Wiseman", and oddly enough, "Sailor Pluto."

This was all Harry's fault. More so than usual, that is. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel and thought. She didn't want to take them to her house, and the station was out of the question...finally, she sighed, and took the left turn that would take her to Harry's apartment.

Finally, Lapis sighed and said in English, "I told you, Jaspis. The baby is fine. I didn't use my power against that thing."

Murphy swallowed down a grin. "That sounds like a familiar argument."

"It really isn't," Jaspis said. "We didn't have any problems with the local supernaturals before last night."

"I meant," she said, "the baby. I have brothers myself."

"Are they all overprotective like this big lug?"

"Hey!"

Murph didn't try and hide the grin this time. "Alex is. Jason knows better."

Jaspis fell silent, growling something under his breath. Lapis glared at him. "That was rude!"

"Dare I ask?"

"Wars aren't conducive to good manners," Lapis replied. "He'll learn."

"You're at war?"

"No," Jaspis replied. "We were. My clan lost. I decided to take Lapis to Earth rather than see her wed to some low-ranked Black Moon noble and her b—"

Lapis had covered Jaspis' mouth with her hand.

Murph snorted and barely restrained a nasty remark about marriage. "I wish my brother had the same foresight," she said, instead. "We're almost there."

"Good," Lapis said quietly. She glanced at her brother, then returned her gaze to her hands.

Jaspis poked at his wound from the droid and winced. "This is gonna be interesting."

—‡—‡—‡—

Harry was currently trying to catch up on some much-needed rest. He was having what he had calculated to be the sixth or seventh longest day of his life, as he reckoned.

It was about to get longer. Murphy contemplated the door, decided it would be easier to get Harry to open it for her, and knocked.

"_I don't see why we can't just teleport in_," Jaspis complained.

"_I told you, we _can't_. He's warded it,_" Lapis hissed.

Groaning a bit, Harry got up, ran a hand through his hair, and pried the door open.

"Hiya," Murph said. "You look like hell. Feel up to protective custody?" Behind her he could see the blue-haired girl from last night, as well as a tall young man with hair that made Lapis' look normal.

Harry cocked an eyebrow upon seeing the girl. "Nice to see _you_ again," he said.

She smiled sheepishly – she was a lot darker than she had been yesterday. Still pale, but more human-looking. The man beside her bore enough of a facial resemblance to her as to be related somehow, in addition to sporting a mark identical to hers on his brow.

Harry turned his gaze to the man, taking in his features. "I've received some peculiar warnings recently," he said, "but at the moment, luckily for you, I've no idea who to trust. I'm going to let you give me a reason why it should be you."

The man grinned. "I haven't tried to kill you."

"And he saved my life," Murph added. "Or he tried. Can we come in? I think Lapis ought to sit down for a while."

"Sit down? What do you..."

Jaspis moved his sister from behind Murphy so Harry could see that she was quite noticeably pregnant.

It was at this point that Harry averted his gaze slightly downward.

A gentleman would not have gawked, but Harry couldn't help himself. After stammering for a few moments, Harry managed to say "What...is _that_?" He pointed at her swollen belly for emphasis.

"Well, you see, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much..." Murphy began.

Harry shot Murphy a glare. "I saw her yesterday and she most certainly did not have one of _those_."

Murphy propped her hands on her hips and glared. "Dresden, I knew you were dense, but don't tell me you managed to miss _that."_

"Actually, he probably did," Jaspis said calmly. "I used an illusion to hide her condition."

Harry blinked, momentarily awestruck. "...okay, everything else aside, I'm impressed. The both of you may come in. I _do_ hope one of you knows what's going on better than I do."

Jaspis extraordinarily waited for the two women to enter before following them in, giving Harry's height an impressed glance – the man was taller than most Nemesians!

Murph greeted Mouse with a smile and waited courteously for Lapis to sit before claiming half the couch. Jaspis elected to lean against the wall, keeping an eye on his sister while waiting for their host to speak.

"Have a seat, help yourself to the fridge, and start talking."

"Straight to the point. I like him." Jaspis shifted, cursed, and added, "Where to begin?"

"We start simple. What exactly _are_ you and blue boy doing here?"

"Lapis and I, to put it simply, are refugees. I thought the Blue Prince had been sent to capture us, but I was… mistaken." He shifted again, then sat on the floor. "So I don't know why he's here."

Harry mulled this over. "Capture? As best as I can gather, Saffy's been trying to avoid you."

"With good reason," Murph put in. "I still haven't heard a decent excuse for the assault and battery."

The nickname threw Jaspis momentarily, though his snickering stopped at Murphy's words. "Pre-emptive strike," he told her. "Reminding him that refugee or not, I was still a force to be reckoned with. Only he was the wrong Saffir."

Harry took yet another moment to process what he was hearing.

"The wrong..." She stopped. "Harry, tell me it's bad form to drink on duty and that I may not have a beer, please."

"Yeah, what you said," said Harry, swiftly fetching two. "What exactly do you _mean_, the wrong Saffir?"

"You forgot a 'no,'" Murph said, taking one of the beers anyway. She popped it open and turned a flat, unnerving stare on Jaspis.

The siblings exchanged a glance, then Jaspis sighed. "She's going to kill me for admitting this," he muttered, then confessed, "Lapis Lazuli already let slip what we are to you, Dresden."

"Yeah, she may have mentioned something along those lines. What I didn't get a chance to mention is that the local authorities frown upon that sort of thing."

Jaspis waved that off. "The Guardian let us through. It's all legal-like."

"The what?"

"The Guardian of Time," Lapis said softly. "Chronos' daughter. I still don't know why she let us through, but she did."

Murph twisted around so the others couldn't see her, and mouthed, "White Council?" at Harry.

Harry shook his head in response. She arched her eyebrows, and settled back into her seat, staring at her beer thoughtfully.

"I told you we're refugees," Jaspis said. "My clan rebelled against the ruling clan, and we lost. Horribly, I might add. However, the Saffir that is here has not yet experienced that rebellion – so I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention it to him. He won't experience it for about two years or so."

"Duly noted. Continue."

Lapis Lazuli took up the story instead. "My husband was killed in the last of the fighting," she said, one hand resting gently against her abdomen. "As the daughter of the rulers of the Dark Star clan, I therefore had one sole use – to be wed to a noble of the Black Moon clan in order to give them a claim to us."

"And I'm guessing you were not too happy about that."

Her lips tightened, and her other hand joined the first one. "Perhaps if Saffir would have been the one I would have been wed to. But the odds of that happening approach zero."

"I wasn't about to see my baby sister treated like a prize," Jaspis said. "Instead, I gathered what energy I could and transported us both to the Guardian's domain."

"Tell me more about this...'guardian'," said Harry, complete with air quotes.

"We can't," Lapis replied. "Technically, we're not even supposed to know about her."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine. But you should know that the local wizards, if they know about this Guardian, worry little about it. I don't know what it's like where you're from, but mucking with time is punishable by death around here."

Jaspis smiled wryly. "Usually transgressing in her domain garners the same sentence."

"Just so we're clear. So, you're here now, and I can't say I blame you. So what now?"

Jaspis shrugged. "I just want to get Saffir back where he belongs. Especially as the Wiseman seems to know he's here."

"Something tells me he might be a tad adverse to this idea," muttered Harry.

"He has to go back," Lapis replied. "If he doesn't, he won't be on Nemesis to make droids for the Black Moon clan. He and Jaspis won't do battle. It would be a paradox."

"Okay, time out," interrupted Harry, making the accompanying gesture. "So Saffir makes these droid things, right?"

"_Ja_," Lapis replied curiously.

"And it's one of these things that jumped Murphy, right?"

Jaspis nodded.

"And you just said that he didn't make this one. You can probably see where I'm going with this."

"Who made this one if he didn't?" Murphy asked. "I'd like an answer to that one too, come to think of it."

"Saffir didn't learn to make droids until he was nearly twenty-one," Jaspis answered.

Lapis shuddered as she added, "He learned how to from one of the Wiseman's books."

"So this Wiseguy. He makes droids. And from what I can gather? Stupidly powerful. Two plus two is..."

"Sixteen," Murphy said. "You're missing a motive."

Jaspis grinned. "No, we're not. Saffir has never gotten along with the old man; it's the only thing he has in common with my clan. I imagine that the Wiseman sees Saffir as a threat. Can't say I blame him."

"A motive for going after _Saffir, _we have," Murphy replied. "A motive for going after me, we don't."

"Wrong place, wrong time?" suggested Harry.

Murph shook her head. "No, I think it was deliberate. He," she nodded at Jaspis, "suggested it was because it caught some of Saffir's magic on me. Which begs the question of how that magic got on me in the first place, but we'll let that go."

"That's why you always wash your hands afterwards," said Harry, smirking a bit.

"You're supposed to be helpful, Dresden, not snide."

Lapis smiled. "The Blue Prince likes to keep track of people he's met."

"Okay, so if you'll mind me repeating myself; What now? Have we considered trying to approach Saffir peacefully and explaining the situation?"

"Maybe once I heal up a bit," Jaspis replied, gesturing to the blood-stained makeshift bandage. "And once my sister has had some rest." This earned him a glare from his sister.

"You're free to recuperate here. _I_ am going to go look for the blue bastard."

Murphy rolled her eyes and muttered something uncomplimentary about men who charged into things without thinking, then said, louder, "You boys go and do that. Somewhere else."

"You'll need me to find him," Jaspis told Harry as he struggled to his feet. "Unless you managed to get some hair or blood of his."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? If he sees you with me, he might think I've turned against him and vamoose."

Jaspis grinned and ran a hand over his bi-coloured hair – and where his hand passed over his hair, it turned brown. "I have a few tricks of my own. It should fool him long enough for me to lock him down so you can talk to him."

"...alright. But let me make one thing clear."

Without meeting his eyes, Harry grabbed the collar of Jaspis' shirt and yanked him close. "If it turns out that you're yanking my chain and this is all some sort of trap, I will wreak vengeance upon you like an enraged grizzly. Comprende?"

"Absolutely," the younger man replied, reaching up and removing Harry's hand from his shirt.

Lapis rolled her eyes. "Next thing you know, they'll be pushing power at each other to see who's stronger," she grumbled under her breath.

"Boys," Murphy said, without heat. "Compare sizes outside, please." She paused a beat, then said, "Now."

Snorting, Harry pulled his wrist free from Jaspis' grasp. "Come on, let's get moving before they start doing each-other's hair."

"Good plan," the other replied. "Lead the way, O Great Wizard."

"I _will,_ thank you!" said Harry, dramatically marching out the door.


	6. Walk Away

Time Slip  
CHAPTER SIX  
Walk Away

* * *

Jaspis laughed, winked at the girls , and followed him outside. "I have to say, Dresden, you have some pretty impressive wards. I've never felt the like."

"_I've_ never seen a veil like the one you were using on Lapis. I didn't even know it was there. Okay, so now that we're done showering each-other in praise, where should we start looking? I don't suppose you have something of Saffir's on you?"

Jaspis grinned predatorily. "Even better. I know the shape of his mind."

Harry had never heard of anything like that before, but didn't mention as such. "Just point me in the right direction."

The Nemesian nodded and closed his eyes, a faint green-purple glow surrounding his body. "Got him," he said after a few minutes. "He went up."

"Up?"

"Up." Jaspis' mouth twitched as the glow died away. "Always did like heights, our _erbeprinz_."

"...uh-huh. Whereabouts is he 'up'?

"Pretty far up. We're talking – _verdammt_. He's on top of the Sears Tower."

Harry stopped in his tracks.

Jaspis turned to look back at him. "What?"

"_Shiiit."_

"Teleportation is a wonderful thing."

"I don't suppose you can take a tagalong with that teleporty thing you do?"

Now the man laughed. "Easily. Hold on a second, I need to retie this thing." He stopped and undid the scraps of cloth around his middle, inspecting the long gash in his side as he did. A stream of profanity in his original language passed his lips.

Harry winced upon noticing the wound. "That looks like it hurts like hell. What happened?"

"Forgot that the droid that wanted to open up your friend had _two_ sword-arms. Why hasn't this stopped bleeding?"

"Might be infected or something. You're probably going to have to get it looked at."

"You got a healer – I'm sorry, a doctor – who won't ask awkward questions? I'd rather not explain why I've been carrying a sword around Chicago."

"Think I can swing that.," said Harry. It'd been awhile since he'd given Butters a ring, and hey, nothing says "Hey, how're you doing" like an oozing wound. "But it'll keep until we conclude tonight's business. Need a hand with that?"

"_Nein_, I've got it." He'd already folded the scraps over and was wrapping them around his abdomen with an efficiency that could only have come with practice.

"If you say so. Shall we?"

The Verdant Lord finished tying the makeshift bandage and straightened up, his eyes glittering as he did so. Suddenly he was a foot shorter, with close-cut black hair and pale blue eyes. He was now a bit darker than Harry. "Indeed we shall. Take my hand. Or shoulder, if you prefer."

"...okay, seriously impressed," said Harry, laying a hand on his shoulder.

The world around them went dark, and they were hit by a blast of sheer _cold_, and then they were standing on top of the Sears tower, facing Saffir as he finished whirling around towards them.

"Dresden!"

Harry felt like all of his organs had run through a Cuisinart. It was strange...one second, he was one place, next, he was another. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to teleporting like that, never mind wanting to.

"Heya, Saffy. Fancy meeting you here," said Harry, smiling amiably and shivering a bit.

The Blue Prince's eyes had zeroed in on Jaspis' new face. "Who's your friend?"

"Never mind him. We need to talk a bit. Things are...strange."

"I hadn't noticed," Saffir said dryly. Jaspis hid a smile.

"I had another encounter with the people who followed you here," said Harry, laying a land on Saffir's shoulder. "I don't think things are quite as you'd think they are."

An expression of confusion crossed the Blue Prince's face. "What do you mean?"

"There are...things that need to be discussed. Things you may not like. Promise you won't freak out?"

"I'm a scientist," Saffir told him. "I don't _get_ freaked out."

Still holding onto Saffir's shoulder, Harry shot his "new friend" a glance and nodded.

With a wave of his hand, Jaspis dispelled the illusion.

If it hadn't been for the strong hand on Saffir's shoulder, the Blue Prince would have leapt back. As it was, he hissed. "_Jaspis!_ You son of a—"

"Later, Heir Prince, later," Jaspis interrupted lazily.

"He is just going to talk," said Harry, squeezing a bit, "_as are you._ Understand?"

When Saffir said nothing, Jaspis rolled his eyes. "Look. Here." He unsheathed his sword and put it on the ground at Harry's feet. "I'm unarmed. We'll both of us abide by the Laws of Hospitality. No magic, no weapons, no mind games." He paused. "Somewhere not so close to heaven. And warmer."

"What he said. I talk best when I can feel my extremeties."

Saffir arched a navy brow at Jaspis. "It isn't that cold. Just how long have you been here?"

"…you really don't want the answer to that."

—‡—‡—‡—

Lapis watched her brother leave with Dresden, then sighed and leaned back against the couch. "So why did you make them leave?"

"They were getting on my nerves," Murphy said, bluntly. In a rather more gentle tone, she added, "You looked like you'd rather Jaspis was elsewhere, too."

She smiled. "He's a scholar-turned-warrior-turned-construction-worker. I think he's enjoying a chance to let his power loose for a change." Another sigh. "I wish he hadn't brought the war up at all."

"Touchy subject?"

"All he lost was his pride. I lost my mentor, my husband, and my family." Both hands were on the swell of her pregnancy again. "They offered to make him part of the Black Moon clan, you know. Power. Everything one of our people is raised to want."

Murph silently got up, moved over to sit on the arm of Lapis's chair, and put her arm around the other woman's shoulders.

Lapis stiffened momentarily, then gratefully leaned into the offered support. "He gave it up and risked everything to get us here, somewhere we could be safe." She took a deep shuddering breath and went on as though she'd been keeping all this bottled inside her for awhile. "I used to fear him as much as I loved Saffir. And then Lord Onyx rebelled, and the Ayakashi Sisters came to keep me as a hostage, and Jaspis got me out of there before my husband could cave in to the Black Moon's ransom demands." She shuddered. "I… never knew how much he actually cared for me. Not until he took us to the Time Gates and bargained with Sailor Pluto."

She buried her face in her hands.

Murphy spent a confused moment trying to untangle the confession (she wasn't sure whether several of the he's referred to Jaspis, the unknown husband, or Saffir, for starters), then decided it didn't matter terribly much, and just did her best to comfort the younger woman.

"He's your brother," she said, softly. "He loves you. I'm sure he thinks he did what was best for everyone. And in all fairness, what I've heard of...of where you came from doesn't sound like the best of places to raise a child."

"It isn't." Lapis looked up and managed a wry smile. "We're actually hoping that my coming to term here will be enough to free him from the taint of Nemesis – that he won't bear the Mark of our clan, that he won't have our powers."

"The taint?" she asked, a little cautiously. "I'm not quite sure what you mean by that."

"The source of our powers – and of our Marks. You see, Detective, Saffir, Jaspis and I, we're all as human as you are. However, our people were banished from Earth several centuries ago, and we found the tenth planet. Nemesis itself is – well, it can't be of this reality. I've done research, nothing else gives off the magical equivalent of radiation like it does."

Murph sat back, thoughtfully. "So if he's born here, outside of that magic, he might just be...well, like me and Harry. And you can call me Karrin if you want."

Lapis nodded. "That's why we walked back. Jaspis is afraid that if I use the power that is my birthright, it might be enough to taint him."

"Interesting." She hesitated a moment, then said, "You know, if he does have some kind of talent, there are people here whose only job is to make sure those with magical talent get trained correctly."

The young woman nodded again. "That is my hope. If there is nothing here, then surely one of the Shinto temples in Ni—in Japan will have something."

"Oh, there's plenty here," Murphy muttered, with a flash of irritation. "Harry's actually part of those people, though a very junior and disliked part, from what he says."

Lapis Lazuli smiled. "If the White Council comes anywhere near my child, they will sorely regret it. I'd prefer to find someone with no agenda."

Murphy grinned. "Glad to see you feel the same way as I do. In all seriousness, though, they aren't all bad. Harry's mentor in particular is fun to be around when he isn't spouting cryptic bullshit."

"We'll see. It's far too early to tell if he'll have magic or not, in any case."

"Hah. Yeah." Murph rested one of her ankles on the opposite knee. "I suppose you lot develop magic around puberty too."

"Hell no. No child would live so long. Children develop teleportation around the age of five or so. Specialties, however, do tend to emerge at puberty." She smiled slightly. "As well as a certain talent that seems to be restricted solely to women."

Murphy arched an eyebrow, and got a faint quirk at the corner of her mouth that might have become a smile. "Dare I ask?"

"Nemesis is a harsh world, but she has seen fit to bestow upon her daughters a way to defend themselves against those men who do not understand the word 'no'." Lapis' eyes flashed with amusement.

"I like her already."

"I will, of course, see fit to inform you if any men on this planet run afoul of me in such a manner." Lapis smiled. "I doubt the situation would devolve to that point, however."

"The men in this city generally know better," Murphy said, smiling full-out this time.

The door opened as Lapis sat up, and they could hear Jaspis and Saffir talking as they entered with Harry. "How about that nasty dark spot coming from the east?" the Blue Prince asked

"Ignore that," Jaspis replied. "Residue from a set of spectral incidents in the late 80s and early 90s."

After materializing, Harry paused briefly to vomit into a nearby bush before shambling in after them. "I... am _never_ doing that again."

Saffir snickered, then stopped dead on spotting Lapis on the couch with Murphy. "_Wh_- _when did that happen!?_" he demanded in their native language, pointing at Lapis' gravid belly.

"Six months ago," Lapis replied in English.

Saffir took the hint. "…am I the father?"

"No."

"WHAT?!" Jaspis demanded.

"Nothing," said Saffir and Lapis simultaneously.

From behind them, Harry was currently trying very hard not to snigger. "I can see you three have a lot of catching up to do. Beers? And, er, Coke?"

"No," Saffir replied, eyeing the older Nemesian. "We need to get me home."

"So I've heard. Well, you _got_ yourself here, didn't you?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, someone - who shall rename nameless - drained me of the energy I needed for the jump back, and I'm still under the mark."

Jaspis eyed the ceiling innocently.

"Can't you...like...do whatever you did to him, but...like...backwards?" said Harry, scratching his head a bit.

"He said, eloquently," Murphy murmured.

"_You_ weren't having every atom of your being sucked through time and space in a split-second," murmured Harry, shooting Murphy a glare.

She smiled innocently and leaned back against the chair.

"Doesn't work that way," Lapis Lazuli told Harry kindly. "It's… complicated. The energy _should_ have naturally restored itself. I don't know why it hasn't."

Harry shrugged in response.. "Not my department."

Jaspis rolled his eyes and paced around the Blue Prince. "It's almost like his power's been capped – that he _can't_ restore himself beyond a certain point. I can't for the life of me figure out how."

"This Guardian," Murph said, thoughtfully. "Could she have anything to do with that?"

"Actually, no," said an amused female voice that caused all three Nemesians to pale considerably – quite a feat with Saffir. "I had nothing to do with it."

Harry turned around and looked at the source of the voice as all his wards went off at once. He winced.

Murph barely restrained an involuntary twitch towards her gun.

A tall woman stood in Harry's door, wearing a form-fitting sailor suit with a black miniskirt attached, holding a staff that resembled a long, thin key. Her long, green-black hair fell nearly to her ankles; her red eyes glinted with humour.

"Who...are you?" Harry asked, rubbing his head. "And _how_ did you get past all my wards?"

"I am the Guardian of Time," the woman replied simply, her eyes on a distinctly uncomfortable-looking Saffir.

"...oh." There were many things Harry could have said that would not have helped the situation. What he _did_ say was "Care for a beer?"

Murphy relaxed a bit, but kept a wary eye on the woman. If Harry's wards didn't affect her, it was unlikely bullets would, but you never knew.

Sailor Pluto politely declined the beer. "In answer to your question – oh, do relax, Verdant Lord, I gave you leave to come here – the reason Saffir's power has not restored itself fully is because he is on Earth, not on Nemesis. His world boosts his power by a great deal." She smiled vaguely.

"So, uh," said Harry, really unsure of how to go on, "what now? Is Saffy just boned, or can you help him?"

"I warned you about swimming through the stream of Time, did I not, Blue Prince?" Saffir squirmed until she added, "Fortunately for you, it is not my place to interfere with what has happened. I will send you home, Blue Prince – and you will never repeated this experiment. Do we have an accord?"

Saffir nodded, and the _senshi_ of Time whirled her staff, barely missing Harry's head and a lamp.

"Wait!" said Harry, holding up a hand. "One question?"

The Greek woman arched an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I can understand that it's probably in your nature to be kinda tight-lipped about things, and I don't blame you, really, but indulge me for one moment. Do you, by chance, know a fellow by the name of Rashid?"

Sailor Pluto smiled warmly. "The Gatekeeper. One of your Senior Council. Yes, I do know him – quite well."

Harry grinned a bit back. "Kinda figured as much. Alright, carry on."

Turning to Saffir, Harry extended a hand. "It's been...well, it's been weird is what it's been. But you're an okay guy. Watch your back."

"Always," Saffir replied, shaking Harry's hand. He looked at Murph and added, "Nice meeting you as well. You might want to ask Jaspis to remove that tracking spell now."

"That _what?" _Murph yelped as Lapis smacked her brother.

"You jerk! Take that off! Now!"

Harry shot Jaspis a rather nasty look but said nothing.

Sailor Pluto laughed and ushered Saffir through the portal she had created. Before walking through herself, she turned back to Harry. "Let Rashid know that I look forward to his next visit." She closed the portal as Jaspis hastily removed the tracking spell.

Murph glared at Jaspis and crossed her arms. "Just what the hell was that for?"

The Verdant Lord cringed. "I wanted to keep track of you, and I still tend to lose people in the crowds of Chicago."

"Don't do that again."

"Really don't," she added. "Or _else."_

"I won't," Jaspis promised.

"So," said Harry, looking Jaspis up and down, "if I may restate my off-quoted litany...what now?'

Jaspis shrugged. "Lapis rests up, we go home, and hopefully never darken your doorstep again."

"So where exactly is 'home' now?"

"Here. Chicago." Lapis smiled. "Across the city from you."

Harry heaved a sigh. "I figured as much. It'd be just the way for this kind of day to end." Returning to the task of looking Jaspis over, he added "I don't think I like you. I do not think I would be unkind to say that you were more than a bit of a bastard. But that doesn't make you an entirely bad person."

He turned to look at Lapis for a moment, then back to Jaspis.

After fishing around in a pocket briefly, he pressed a business card into his hand. "Just in case. Reasonable rates, y'know."

The Nemesian smiled. "Thanks. Hopefully you'll never hear from us again. For now, I should probably get my sister home."

"Take care of yourself. And of her. Now get out."

Jaspis took his sister by the hand and got. The long way.

—‡—‡—‡—

Sailor Pluto closed the Time Portal after Saffir passed through it and sighed in regret. She had briefly toyed with the idea of simply leaving him on Earth, but had discarded it immediately. "A pity to lose someone of his intellect," she murmured.

"And what of the Outsider?" a male voice asked.

Pluto turned to the Gatekeeper and smiled. "Gone with the Prince. Earth won't see him again for a millennium – and he met his fate fifteen years ago."

"The Council will not like what you have done here," he warned.

"I don't particularly care what the Council likes," she replied. "I do not answer to them."

The Gatekeeper shook his head. "Setsuna, there is just one thing I don't understand about this. Why did you allow the Dark Star siblings to traverse Time?"

Pluto's gaze became distant. "The people of Nemesis will need a new leader after the death of their royal family, someone with a claim to the throne. Lapis Lazuli carries that leader now. With the blood of both the Dark Star and the Black Moon clans in his veins, he will wield the power that will lead to the truce between Earth and Nemesis."

"I thought you weren't supposed to interfere," the Gatekeeper said wryly.

"Every rule has its exceptions, Rashid."

He laughed and took the Guardian's hand in his, content in the silence between them.

* * *

_That's all, folks!_

_ I'd like to thank GG Crono and Rosethorn again for playing Harry and Murphy for me when I most assuredly could not. Guys, your help was much appreciated. :D_

_And yes, I do ship the Gatekeeper with Sailor Pluto. This is because I am on the special crack.  
_


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